Kiss News

08/03/2016

Charity fundraiser at Lake Minnetonka mansion sealed with a KISS concert

By Jon Bream / Star Tribune

Two guys in black walk into a Lake Minnetonka mansion.

These 60-something guys with giant puffs of hair aren�t your ordinary men in black. It�s Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley from Kiss, the band that made makeup, pyro and wanting to rock �n� roll all night and party every day famous.

This isn�t your ordinary Lake Minnetonka mansion. This is chez Muffy MacMillan, the philanthropist and Cargill heir.

Ms. Cargill met Mssrs. Kiss on Tuesday night in the name of hunger, charity and rock �n� roll.

MacMillan was the host to nearly 900 people � who shelled out anywhere from $500 to $50,000 � at a benefit concert for two global charities, Opportunity International and Matter.

The tanned, tony and very blond people dined on surf �n� turf tacos and watermelon-and-feta salad in white tents on the vast MacMillan lawn. It was hard to spot Kiss T-shirts, though one woman in a stylish black dress proudly had her face painted a la Stanley�s �Starman� makeup. However, most everyone was carrying a Kiss on a stick hand-fan decorated with Simmons� famously made-up face.

When Simmons, Stanley, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer hit the stage without makeup, everyone put down their fans, got off their white padded folding chairs and partied.�For old farts, they�re kicking butt,� said Dan Heiland, 60, of Excelsior, said of the Rock �n� Roll Hall of Famers who have been rocking since 1973.

�It�s the event of the summer,� declared his wife, Heidi Heiland, who did the flowers for the fundraiser that raised more than $1 million.

Before Kiss hit the stage at what the band called �Muffypalooza,� there were the obligatory speeches from MacMillan and others.

�More people from Minnesota give to Opportunity International than any other state,� said Vicki Escarra, CEO of the 45-year-old, Chicago-based organization that fights global poverty. MacMillan is a board member.

�Charity is not an option, it�s an obligation,� Stanley said in an interview before the concert and he repeated the sentiment onstage.

Always prone to pontificate, Simmons said in an interview in MacMillan�s game room that charity �shouldn�t be limited to the rich and famous. Giving begins at home.� And he walked the walk, donating $100,000 to Matter, a 16-year-old, Twin Cities-based nonprofit that fights poverty with food and medical supplies to 32 developing countries. He holds the title of ambassador for Matter.

Thayer said Kiss performs 99 percent of its concerts in makeup but Tuesday was the first exception since a backyard benefit last summer.

Matt Svendsen, 32, of White Bear Lake, didn�t care if Kiss wasn�t in arena-stage mode. He was singing along to every song at his first-ever Kiss concert, hoisting a can of Surly beer to the beat for emphasis.

�It�s minus makeup but stripped down is amazing,� he said of the no-frills performance. �Anytime I can mix music and doing something better for the community and the world is fantastic.�

He and his wife also mixed in the celebration of their second wedding anniversary. Their first anniversary was observed at a Brandi Carlile concert.

Among the boldface partygoers were business mogul Irwin Jacobs, Olga Viso of Walker Art Center, restaurateurs Josh Toma and Kam Talebi and Paula Goldberg of PACER Center.

Someone bid $15,000 for Stanley�s guitar, another donated $14,000 for Simmons� signature axe bass, and one fan paid $27,000 to travel on Kiss� private plane and hang backstage at a future concert.

Several people ponied up $5,000 to join Kiss onstage Tuesday to sing �Rock and Roll All Nite� as fireworks exploded in the sky.

Kiss in concert in a Minnetonka mansion sounds like a baby-boomer�s dream evening. But these kind of events aren�t totally uncommon. Just last month Aerosmith�s Steven Tyler performed a private show for juvenile arthritis at the Lake Minnetonka home of Marty Davis, owner of Cambria and Sun Country airlines.

During Tuesday�s 45-minute performance, Stanley was presented with an award from Matter in recognition for Kiss� current Freedom to Rock Tour for employing veterans of the Armed Services.

Kiss� Freedom to Rock Tour visited Mankato on Monday and will rock Duluth on Wednesday. For those shows, Kiss members will don their trademark makeup.

Not so on Lake Minnetonka. This one was in the flesh. But at least there were fireworks afterward. A full 15 minutes of fireworks. You don�t get that at every Kiss show.

08/03/2016

KISS ROCKS VEGAS!

by Dana Getz / Entertainment Weekly

KISS have long championed a reputation as arena-rock ringmasters, stuffing four decades of raucous live sets with elaborate light shows, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, and raging pyrotechnics.

Granted a permanent space for a Las Vegas residency amidst their 2014 40th anniversary tour, the band cranked their concert nozzle to nuclear for a nine-night stint at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. On Aug. 26, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers will reincarnate those shows for KISS Rocks Vegas, a DVD collection that chronicles their Sin City run. EW is excited to premiere an exclusive clip from the project below.

�Doing a residency in Vegas gave us an opportunity to do a show without the restrictions of making its mobility a consideration,� guitarist Paul Stanley tells EW. �Much like assembling a ship in a bottle we were able to bring a massive stadium-worthy construction into a small venue piece by piece and create something magnificent in size and bombast.�

Frontman Gene Simmons says the smaller venue not only gave them a chance to amp up their presentation, but to connect with fans on a more intimate level.

�The beginning of every show still sends chills up my spine. The roar of the crowd. The smell of the greasepaint,� he says. �Even though we are known for putting on a spectacle, the best part of the shows is always the screaming fans standing on their seats. Hands down�The songs are more than just songs. They�re the soundtrack of people�s lives.�

Added Stanley: �The more we can become one with our fans, the more magic we can create together and KISS Rocks Vegas is testament to that.�

Pulling from KISS� 44-album discography, KISS Rocks Vegas will include live renditions of classics like �Rock And Roll All Night,� �Shout It Out Loud,� and �Love Gun� as well as a bonus seven-song acoustic set. It will be available on CD, DVD, and Blu-ray beginning at $21.98. The deluxe edition features a hardcover package with a 12X12 book, photos from the show, and an exclusive CD.

CLICK HERE to watch KISS perform �Detroit Rock City� in the exclusive Entertainment Weekly clip.

08/02/2016

KISS concert tour a 'victory lap'

By L. Kent Wolgamott / LaCrosse Tribune

Four decades, hundreds of shows, a couple dozen platinum albums, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. KISS has, by almost any measure, conquered the rock world.

Now the band is back on the road � in celebration.

�Everything now is a victory lap,� founding member Paul Stanley said in a phone interview. �We won and continue to win. To go out there every night is a celebration. It�s at the very least as much fun and in some ways, it�s a much deeper experience. We�ve got all this history and these connections and we�re out there celebrating and high-fiving the fans.�

On this summer�s Freedom to Rock Tour, KISS primarily will be high-fiving its fans in smaller cities in the Midwest, Plains, West and Canada, including an Aug. 6 show at the La Crosse Center.

�As well it should be,� Stanley said. �We built our following playing places other bands ignored. The truth is most bands at the time thought the U.S. consisted of the East Coast and West Coast and the rest was places you flew over. We never believed that. ... You don�t choose where you�re born and you don�t have to make excuses for it. The people always remember who is there for them.�

Some of those people started following KISS in the 1970s � and are now in their 60s. But unlike most fans of veteran bands, the KISS Army continues to gain new enlistees with each generation.

�I think we appeal to people on different levels,� Stanley said. �Young people can come because of what we look like and there�s a vibe, so to speak, of celebrating life. For people who are older, they might have seen us before. But it�s also what we sing about � individuality, self respect, celebrating life, not hurting yourself and not hurting others. I guess that we�re kind of Superman crossed with Elvis Presley.�

The Elvis Presley part comes from KISS� brand of rock �n� roll, a hard rock approach that�s led to the sale of 100 million albums. Superman begins with the band�s trademark makeup, turning the quartet into masked rock heroes out to save the world.

�I think that very much we have been able to present a powerful and consistent image, pretty much for 40 years,� said Stanley, also known as The Starman. �Certainly that was by design. But I don�t think any of us knew it would be iconic and it now has a life of its own.�

For most of those 40 years, KISS has been known for an over-the-top live show, filled with spectacular lighting, pyro, blood spitting, fire breathing, flying rockets and music delivered at high volume.

That kind of show was unique to the band back in the �70s, but not so much these days.

�It�s no secret at this point that any band with money can do a KISS show,� Stanley said. �KISS is in every band and every band�s show at this point. But no other band can beat KISS � a crappy band with a laser is still a crappy band.�

So KISS now creates a show aimed at one-upping the previous tour, then adds a set list that�s designed to never bore and give the fans � and the band � the songs they want to hear and play.

�Everything we play are songs that I love,� Stanley said. �There isn�t a song we do I�m not proud of. When bands change songs that make them totally unrecognizable, it�s because they�re bored. The truth is, it�s an insult to the fans. �Love Gun,� �Detroit Rock City,� �Rock and Roll All Night� � those are great songs that have stood the test of time.�

Stanley has written or co-written most of KISS� hits. He says he knows when he�s penned a great song, and he only completes the ones he knows are good.

�There are songs I don�t finish,� Stanley said. �I tend to self edit. I don�t finish songs I don�t think are good. If six or seven songs are needed for an album, I complete six or seven songs and I know they�re good. Songs from (the 2009 album) �Sonic Boom� and (2012�s) �Monster� are now becoming classic. The only way for a song to become classic is for it to endure the test of time. Usually the songs I write I know will.�

Those performances are critical for singer/rhythm guitarist Stanley, who never wants to disappoint the fans who pay good money for a good show they�ll remember for years to come.

�Everything exists for the show,� Stanley said. �That�s where we justify our existence and where we justify the other 22 hours of the day. The travel part is easier now. But in some ways, the performance itself is harder. But that�s part of the dedication, to go out there and work our asses off for ourselves and for the fans. Because we�re fans of KISS, too.�

Stanley and bassist Gene Simmons have been together for 43 years, having started the band in 1973, with guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss completing the classic early lineup. That edition of KISS saw its first three studio albums sell modestly, but the group managed to launch the early versions of what would become a continually more extravagant live show.

The commercial breakthrough came with the 1975 concert release, �Alive,� a double LP. Featuring the hit �Rock and Roll All Night,� it opened the door to a string of hit studio albums that continued through 1979�s �Dynasty.� But Frehley and Criss were dismissed in the early 1980s, and with the band�s popularity waning, the �80s edition of the group dispensed with the makeup and went on to enjoy a resurgence with a pair of platinum albums (1985�s �Asylum� and 1987�s �Crazy Nights�).

Frehley and Criss returned for a blockbuster reunion tour in 1996, but the reunion didn�t last.

Since then, Stanley and Simmons have seen eight other members cycle through the band, with Tommy Thayer now handling lead guitar duties as The Spaceman and Eric Singer on drums as The Catman.

Asked how long he�ll keep going, Stanley revealed what is likely to be the future of the band.

�I�ll go until I�m done,� he said. �I believe KISS should continue and will continue without me. Anybody who doesn�t believe that is already 50 percent wrong with the makeup of the band. Somebody can come into the band in place of me. He doesn�t have to be a clone of me. I didn�t invent the wheel. I had a lot of musicians as influences and brought that in. If someone comes along with those same influences and adds me to it, he�ll fit fine in KISS.�
IF YOU GO

WHAT: Concert featuring Kiss, with special guest Caleb Johnson, �American Idol� season 13 winner

WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6

WHERE: La Crosse Center, 300 Harborview Plaza

COST: $82.50

08/02/2016

KISS collector (almost) has it all

John Marx / Dispatch Argus QConline

Shane Hartman's 52-inch television rests on his basement floor, because his big screen is not as valuable as the 24-inch busts of  Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss, the original members of the band KISS.

Come on, you can get a flat-screen anywhere, but you cannot find the original busts of one of rock's greatest bands.

"It is the reason the television is on floor,'' said Hartman, 26, who is the Mental Health Court Officer for Rock Island County and holder -- by a large amount -- of the largest KISS memorabilia collection in the area. "It's just the way it is.''

Hartman, a first-team all-good dude, fell in love with the group at age 8 thanks to his parents, who are KISS fans. His collection, well over a thousand pieces and worth thousands of dollars, is all him. His parents planted the KISS seed; he made the KISS collection grow.

"We have been to concerts together,'' Hartman said, adding he and his parents will be in attendance Friday when KISS plays Moline's iWireless Center. "They have been supportive through all this.''

It is difficult to shed light on all that is Hartman's KISS collection, save for two coveted items. Hartman's KISS display is expansive and free of anything second-rate. From comic books to busts, ornaments, a pool cue and action figures of every size and shape, it's there. There are albums,  banners, closets filled with posters and a rare KISS can of beer from Australia.

"I don't have a KISS (plastic) record player and I don't have a remote control KISS van,'' Hartman said with a small and painful wince, describing two items that have escaped him through 18 years of collecting.

A Clinton, Iowa, native and Western Illinois University graduate, Hartman  says gifts given to him are generally KISS related. Also, being single has allowed him to expand his collection on the spur of the moment. He has traveled the Midwest buying, selling and trading KISS memorabilia, and he and his blue pickup truck have worn a path to places like Des Moines, Milwaukee and St. Louis. A recent St. Louis trip began as a small purchase and became an entire-collection buy.

"I had to get a U-Haul to get it all home,'' Hartman said with a chuckle. "I have the freedom to come and go, to chase things I might not be able to chase -- and afford -- with a family. I took two friends from law enforcement with me to St. Louis and they had a good time at my expense, reminding me often that we had to bring everything home in a U-Haul.''

Hartman is not one to give advice about the "what,'' "why''  and "how much'' anyone's collection of memorabilia should entail. He does, however, say you might want to be a fan of what you are chasing.

"I have seen KISS many times,'' Hartman said, noting he shares a birthday with Simmons. "I have been a member of the (the group's fan club) KISS Army. For a (college) graduation gift, I saw a KISS concert from the first five rows in Las Vegas, got to go to the show in a KISS limo and had a backstage meet and greet. It helps to be a fan.''

A level-headed sort, Hartman has never put himself in financial hardship because of his collection. He also has no idea if and when he will stop buying, selling and trading KISS memorabilia. Fishing, his other hobby, will always be there.

"I get a kick out of it,'' he said. "People understand. My family got me started and my friends are cool with it. I only have myself to keep happy. I guess hunting for something I don't have keeps me going."

And a really cool and rare collection growing.

 

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